113-Year-Old Tradition

FEAST FOR ST. CESARIO ﻿﻿﻿Bishop Serratelli celebrated a Mass in honor of St. Cesario in St. Michael’s Church in Netcong on July 18, marking the 113th anniversary of the feast day celebration at the parish. At the altar with him are Father Adam Muda, pastor; Father Piotr Yakubiak, Deacon Murphy, Father Lukasz Krzaczkowski, Father Mateusz Yanszewski and Father Kevin Corcoran, priest/secretary to the Bishop.

﻿﻿Italian feast draws crowds to St. Michael Parish in Netcong

By CECILE SAN AGUSTIN, Reporter

NETCONG﻿In 1902, eight Italian immigrants left their hometown of Cesa, a province north of Naples, Italy, to come to America. The men — Francesco, Raffaele and Cesario Puco, Antonio Ferriero, Domenco and Guiseppe Togno, Lugi and Giustino Esposito — settled in the bucolic area in and around Netcong in northwest Morris County, but they never forgot their roots back home by establishing the St. Cesario Society in honor of their hometown’s patron saint.

Now more than 100 years later, the names of these men appear on a banner that is carried in a procession for St. Cesario, an Italian martyr, for the feast day celebration that is held every year at St. Michael Parish here.

Bishop Serratelli celebrated a Mass in honor of St. Cesario in St. Michael’s Church at 8 a.m. on July 18, marking the 113th anniversary of the feast day celebration at the parish. It is scheduled every year on the second to last Saturday of July as a day of faith, food, fun, friendship, family and fireworks. It continues to draw generation after generation as grandchildren, great grandchildren and even great-great grandchildren filled the pews of St. Michael’s — some who traveled long distances to come back to the Netcong parish — to mark the feast of the Italian saint.

Following the Mass, the celebration continued with a parade ﻿through the streets of Netcong, a town that welcomed many Italian immigrants during the early 1900s. The banner was carried with an image of St. Cesario by society members and was accompanied by a color guard and the American flag and an Italian band. As the parade went through town, people pinned donations on the streamers of the banner. After the parade, families gathered for a picnic and the celebration that continued into evening. Later in the evening there was a large fireworks display.

Lucille Togno, whose grandfather, Guiseppe Esposito, was a member of the society, said, “I have so many great memories about this feast day. I remember we girls wore our First Communion dresses and we would be in the parade for St. Cesario. It’s always nice to see this celebration continued with generations of families coming to it 100 years later.”

St. Cesario lived around 300 AD during a time when pagans were persecuting Christians. Cesario was a 19-year-old deacon studying for the priesthood. During a visit to Italy, he witnessed a pagan celebration of Apollo and he objected to the human sacrifice it involved and he took the place of a man with eight children, who was to be killed for being a Christian. He was imprisoned for two years, and then martyred. He was tied into a sack and thrown into the sea to drown at Pisco Montano, Terracina, Italy. Later his body was found incorrupt. After his death many miracles were attributed to him and he was canonized.

Father Adam Muda, pastor, said, “The St. Cesario Society of our parish helped build St. Michael’s. The whole Mass for this saint was very spiritual. Many people were happy the Bishop attended. They felt inspired by his homily which talked about the importance of family, Sunday Mass and how martyrdom exists more than ever.”